Objective Reality
by Rabbit Pie
Summary: Wulf had a request, and Danny had an answer. Soon Danny finds himself in a place where nothing should be real, least of all Danny himself.
1. Manhunter and Batman

A warning to readers:

I'm writing this by the seat of my pants, so we'll see where it ends up…

(And my first encounter with the DC universe was two weeks ago when I came across the episode Homefront during my channel surfing… it's comfy under this rock c;)

x.x

It was very quiet in room where the team was training. Each member lay on an oblong box, eyes closed and arms limply at the sides. Their heads pointed inwards towards a central point like tines of a six-pointed star. At this central point, Martian Manhunter stood, his arms out and his fingers flexing, his eyes closed as if in prayer.

Batman watched from under his cowl.

Nails clacked against the ground and a wolf with warm amber eyes entered the room. It made its way to Superboy, black nose waffling at him over the top of the block. It snorted. Finished with its sniff, it yawned widely, displaying two sets of teeth that glittered in the white light of the room, and lay down.

Again, it was silent in the room.

Out of the quiet M'gann arched off her block with a cry, her hands gripping at her chest. Batman was instantly on alert. Manhunter's eyes opened, and he became animated: his arms rose and he rushed to M'gann's side, reaching for her as he approached.

"Check Artemis," he said urgently.

Batman was at the young archer's side in an instant. Artemis's brows were unfurrowed, and her lips were ever so slightly parted in relaxation. The skin at her neck was warm and her pulse was as steady as the rise and fall of her chest.

"I cannot sense anything amiss," he reported, scanning her body.

"Artemis's mind believes itself to be dead," Manhunter explained from his place at M'gann's side. "She should have awoken upon her death in the dreamworld, however she has forgotten that it was a training exercise." He crossed the floor to Batman's side, brushing Wolf's side in his anxious hurry. He crouched beside Artemis' head and placed his hand upon her forehead.

Batman waited in tense silence for the verdict.

Manhunter's head tilted down and lines around his mouth deepened. "M'gann is now in full control of the exercise. What she believes, all the others believe. At this moment she believes Artemis dead. I do not need to tell you what will happen if she is not pulled from the exercise before her own death."

Batman looked at each of the teenagers before him, his eyes drawn to Robin. If M'gann died in-exercise believing him to be dead, he might never wake.

"The scenario is a doomed-to-fail mission," Batman said. There was no accusation in his tone, but Manhunter imagined he could hear fear. He met Batman's eyes, and while they were hidden from him he could feel the mind behind them steeling itself against tragedy.

"I will re-enter the dream world and awaken M'gann."

"Do it," Batman responded as Manhunter turned away. This time, he did not go to the centre that the teenages's bodies converged on. He stood above M'gann, and his body stilled as the real world was lost to him.

In the silence, Batman's attention was drawn to Wolf. The creature's eyes were open and it was staring emptily ahead. Its ribcage did not rise and fall. He could not say when Wolf entered the dreamworld, but now one thing was certain.

This training exercise had claimed its first victim.


	2. Danny

Good update, everyone! Here's Danny.

x.x

Mr. Lancer's voice circled around the inside of Danny's head, becoming less and less coherent with each pass. The teacher was gesticulating with a whiteboard marker… was he declaring something about themes? Danny slumped forward as though a few extra inches would make the difference between sleep-muddled confusion and understanding. His elbow came down on a slip of paper and slid forward.

Unbalanced and lethargic, Danny barely stopped himself from crashing head-first into the tabletop. He glared at the piece of paper through low-lidded eyes. A hangman.

- -E-A- -/-I- -/- -U- - -E- -

Yeah, that was beyond him at the moment.

Tucker pulled the paper from under his arm with a _sorry _that could have contained a touch more honesty. Danny's eyes tracked the paper as his friend held it up to his glasses. He squinted and pouted at it. His eyes widened and he sent an 'are you an idiot?' look over Danny's head.

Danny had clearly missed something. He hid his head in his arms and felt his eyes close. The hangman dangled in front of his eyelids.

He rocked to the side when Sam leaned into him. She pinched the paper from Tucker.

"Guys," Danny moaned, eyes flickering open, "I'm actually trying to concentrate!"

Sam was too busy filling in the hangman with M-E-A-T-/-I-S-/-M-U-R-D-E-R to pay any attention, but Tucker gave him a consoling (if condescending) pat on the back. "Late night?"

"Mmhhf." Danny sat back, staring blearily towards Mr. Lancer.

At about one am, the Box Ghost had led him on around or through every apparatus in the Fenton Laboratory until Danny had caught it in the Fenton Ghost Weasel. It had still been cooing in wonder at being trapped in a _rectangular_ container when Danny had hurled it – Weasel and all – through the ghost portal. The debacle had lasted long enough for his sheets to cool, and his bed had been uninviting when he'd finally returned to it.

There was a sudden silence in the room, which was nice. It left Danny's ears unprepared for the shrieks of terror that filled the classroom a second later. Danny flinched, and sat bolt upright. A ghost portal was opening where Mr. Lancer had stood a moment ago. Mr. Lancer himself was rushing for the door.

"Well, it looks like sleep's going to have to wait. So's class, for that matter," Tucker commented.

The rest of the class herded Mr. Lancer out before them in a stampede. Danny didn't even get up from his desk. He pulled out the thermos and pointed it right at the portal. Who knew – maybe he'd be able to get out of this without any fighting? His heart was racing. At least he was alert now.

A wide black nose appeared through the portal, followed by huge canine body. Black fur sprouted out from patched, lime-green clothing. The creature strode through the portal on its hind legs, the arm-like forelimbs hanging forward at the elbow like a velocitator. Danny checked the wolf's neck. There was no control collar. He relaxed, and let the thermos drop to his desk with a metal clank.

"Uh – Saluton!" He greeted a touch shrilly, a thrill running through his body as his harried mind searched for words to ask why Wulf was here. "Kiu – no," he stumbled. "Vi estas kun mi – mi-j," he tried to turn the question into a statement with his tone. Wulf shook his head in confusion.

"Kio okazas?" Tucker said - knowing Tucker, that was probably good Esperanto. Wulf didn't look his way. His pupilless green eyes were fixed on Danny.

"Friend," he grunted, "Friend help." The rows of desks didn't stop Wulf from reaching Danny, the ghost phased right through them. He cocked his head, towering over Danny.

"You want our help?" Sam asked. And then in Esperanto: "Ĉu vi deziras – _er_ – helpon?"

Wulf nodded, and grabbed Danny's arm. He pulled Danny back to the portal. Danny yelped and flailed as Sam and Tucker grabbed at him. They missed, and Danny found himself pulled through the portal and into the Ghost Zone.

Wulf blocked the portal as it – and Danny's chance of getting back to class on time – shrinked into nothingness. "What was that for?" he demanded, pulling the ghost transformation over himself. The world darkened and Wulf's ghostly glow brightened as the transformation took hold.

"_One_ help," Wulf responded calmly, holding up a retracted claw that was currently stubby and small. "One Danny. Danny-friend help."

Danny crossed his arms. He was mostly awake now thanks to Wulf, but his eyes were itching with crankiness. "Alright, so only I can help. You could have said that!"

A short, deep chuckled burbled up from Wulf's huge chest. He squinted at Danny and gave him said something in Esperanto that Danny didn't catch a word of. From the tone of it, he was saying something like _There's a small problem with that – like the fact that you can't understand what I'm saying right now._

"Fine, I'll help you." Danny whined, throwing his arms up. "But let's make this quick."

Wulf led Danny to his lair: a very human room. It was arching and airy, sterile and grey. The only break from the blankness was a painting of six oddly-dressed humans. The foremost was a black-haired and black-clothed boy, a red 'S' on his shirt. Wulf put a paw on Danny's shoulder, looming over him again.

"Thankyou… Friend," he said, his fangs flashing in the white light of the lair.

Danny felt awkwardness crawling up his spine. "Yeah, yeah, Wulf, you're welcome," he muttered.

Wulf wrapped his furry arms around Danny in a hug. Danny wriggled uncomfortably. The wolf's chest was pressed hard against his cheek and his eyelashes caught against wolf's lime-green shirt with every blink. He patted Wulf's side awkwardly where he could reach, his cheeks turning pink.

Wulf freed him smiled down at him, and then over at the picture of the people. "Two Friends Help Wulf's old friends!" he told it. Wulf's claws extended into foot-long knives and he slashed at the air. He tore a Wulf-sized portal into the zone and hopped through.

"Here we go," Danny told himself. He banished his nerves and dived into the portal after Wulf.

x.x

Esperanto: Esperanto is dodgy, but I didn't get help with it because I figured Danny and Sam's Esperanto is very dodgy.

Danny: You are with mes?

Tucker: What's happening?

Sam: Do you want help?


	3. Wulf and Wolf

More fic! I'm amazed by all the attention I'm receiving - seriously. C:

I'm hoping that by the end of this chapter it's obvious where they all are - this begins in an AU version of a certain episode...

We continue unbeata-ed and barely checked, because that's how this story's rolling.

x.x

Snow touched Danny's boots where they brushed the ground, and a dry breeze scraped his mouth as his chest expanded. The chill traveled inwards and meet his ice core. When it hit, Danny grinned. He spun around, shooting up into the air and back down to dangle upside down in front of Wulf.

Wulf lurched forward and pressed his hairy, soft paw against Danny's mouth. His claws dug into the spots behind Danny's ears. The boy made a muffled sound of protest, and licked Wulf. Yuck, wolf paw! He grimaced.

Wulf looked about them, over the snow-covered landscape. With the portal gone, everything was white under the blue sky. It was hilly – they wouldn't see very far if they didn't fly. Quiet, too – the only sound was the breath in Danny's mouth and breeze against his ears.

A boom rocked its way across the landscape, and Wulf's paw contracted, sending his claws into Danny's flesh. Danny tried to yelp, but was silenced behind Wulf's paw. He pried the fingers apart and jerked back, panting, eyes streaming in pain.

"What was that!?"

"Shh!" Wulf demanded. Danny stared at him blankly. There were sounds all around them now: gunshots like Danny had only heard on television, only a million times louder. There was no way anyone was going to hear them over—

Okay, so maybe they didn't want to draw the attention of whoever had the guns. Danny clamed his mouth and nodded vigorously.

Wulf set off up a slope in the direction of the noise. Danny gaped after him, a handful of protests scrambling over each other in the back of his mouth. He flew after Wulf, pressing his hands against his ears. They came away green with ectoplasm.

Danny caught up to Wulf near the top of the slope. Wulf pulled Danny down into the snow before he could top the hill. Wulf's huge black form blocked any chance Danny had of seeing into the valley beyond, and he elbow-crawled forward a few paces. Danny, a little dazed, scrambled after him. He looked down.

An icey valley lay below them. There were a jet-like vehicles settled in the snow black and fat like a huge cockroach. A boy stood on it. He was pulling a hulking black canon-like protuberance from its top. It creaked. Danny's lips parted as he watched the metal stretch and tear under the boy's hands.

The white wolf that stood by him took off across the valley, where other people were standing and looking about, as if for enemies. Wulf pointed to it.

"Me," he said.

"That's – that was you when you were alive?" Danny stammered. Wulf did not reply. More jet-ships appeared on the horizon, zooming down into the valley. The people on the ground called frantically to each other.

Danny tried to leap up, but Wulf caught him. He squirmed under Wulf's paw, but the wolf touched one of the wounds on his head and he lay still.

A golden beam of light poured out of one of the jet-ships. It travelled harmlessly over the white ground, but the people in the valley raced to get away. One came down thirty meters in front of Danny. One of the figures below stopped moving. She threw open her mouth and screamed.

"ARTEMIS!"

The other figures startled badly. Danny pushed against Wulf.

The beams kept coming. One appeared not thirty metres from Danny. It ran across the ice, heading right for the black-haired boy. Danny realised he recognised him from Wulf's lair.

Danny hissed, getting ready to blast Wulf. His hands glowed green as Wulf sprang up, covering Danny in snow.

On the other side of the valley, the wolf turned, darting for the boy.

He was going to be too slow.

Danny phased through snow and flew as fast as he could, his legs blurring into a tail.

The boy's eyes widened as Danny collided with him. He couldn't get a good grip as they toppled from the jet-ship. The light of the beam threw a golden curtain behind the boy as they fell. The boy grunted and pushed him away when they hit the ice. Danny was flung back. The beam changed direction, coming right for them.

The other boy seemed stunned. Danny leapt over to him and made them both intangible, hoping the beam would pass right through them.

The world went yellow. The white wolf appeared above them, snarling with protectiveness. It's black silhouette melted away, the fur and flesh disappeared, leaving a skeleton suspended in the air for a moment. That, too vanished.

"Wulf!" Danny yelled, staring up.

The beam faded away.

Danny felt the return of solid ice beneath his feet as he returned them to tangibility. The boy looked at him with guarded blue eyes. He was okay.

Danny was okay.

"Thank you," he said.

"Danny," Danny introduced himself blankly.

"I'm… Superboy," the guy responded.

A startled cry behind them had Danny untangling letting go of Superboy and wheeling around. The green girl – the figure who'd screamed before – had her arms stretched up into the air. Wulf was growling and twisting in mid-air before her, flashing his teeth.

All eyes were fixed on him.

"M'gann!" Superboy called.

Wulf turned his head. He saw the Superboy and stopped struggling. His eyes widened, and he sniffled, his black nose waffling. A curious whine escaped his throat. He glanced at Danny.

"Thank," he growled.

Wulf began to disappear. His fading green eyes turned back to Superboy, and his lips moved to say something Danny couldn't make out. Then there was nothing left of him, just like as surely as there was no evidence of his living self.


	4. The Team

Buh - team dynamics are _hard! _If anyone's interested, I now have a new tumblr for YJ stuff: yjincursion .tumblr .com

If you wanna chat about anything season 1 related, tag me in a post there (I'm under the impression tumblr is a platform...) or reblog one of my posts. I like to talk about plunnies and premises I don't have time for :D

x.x

Wulf was gone, and all five members of the group had turned to face Danny. He could look into each of their faces. Ten eyes stared at him with dazed fixedness, as if staring through him. Superboy, near him, felt suddenly remote. Danny almost waved, just to see how they'd react.

"Um, Hi?" he said.

Before anyone could answer, a roar entered the valley. Two more black ships appeared, their canons glowing with inner red fire. Danny went intangible, and looked about him. The others were still exposed to the elements.

The group startled into action.

"We need to get the weapon onto the bioship!"

"With those ships in the air?"

"Superboy, Miss Martian, get them into the lake," commanded the apparent leader, and suddenly he was wielding two white, snake-like whips. Superboy left Danny and ran towards the ships. Miss Martian – the green girl – took to air. Danny watched them in wide-eyed silence.

The two who'd spoken first dashed towards him over the snow. They passed him with a brush of air and leapt up onto the downed ship. The canon had fallen against its top as if dislocated, and the smaller of the two rounded it like a curious weasel while the larger stood back with arms crossed. Shorty took a circular blade from his belt and bent down to slash the wires that rooted the canon to the ship.

The taller one's eyes came down upon Danny, untrusting and angry.

"Um," Danny uttered.

This boy didn't look like he had the crazy strength of Superboy, and the smaller one definitely didn't – how were they going to move the canon? He could help. Danny floated closer, and, feeling he was about to poke a snarling pitbul, he approached them on Shorty's side.

"I can move the canon," he told Shorty. Shorty seemed to ignore him. "I mean, your strong friend's kind of busy!" Danny protested, pointing skyward. Superboy and Miss Martian were attacking the ships mid-air. "I want to help!"

Task finished, Shorty stood and returned the blade to his belt. The canon creaked and sagged a little, but was still mostly upright. Shorty's expression was hard to read behind a domino mask, but there was tension around his mouth. He pointed over to a jagged, frosted rise, nearby and bare. "Our ship's hidden over there," he told Danny. "We need this canon on the roof. Can you do that?"

"Yeah! Easy!" Danny cried.

He flew up and hovered over the canon. He had tried carrying heavy things like this before, but it never worked unless he turned them intangible. Shorty scrutinised him as he darted underneath and placed his hands against the bottom of the barrel. He reached out with his aura, annexing the canon and feeling its inertia vanish as he turned it intangible. New sensations came to him: the chill of the frozen metal, the cooling heat of the gun. Ugh, heat.

He heard a roar of anger – Superboy's – and a yellow beam spotlighted the snow for the first time since Wulf had vanished. The canon didn't slow Danny down. The beams swept over him and the world flashed yellow as he followed Shortie's directions.

He looked behind him, but could see no sign of Shorty and Grumpy. He searched the snow, and caught sight of a purple outline – Shorty's ship. With a little trepidation, he flew over to it. Even when he was just above it, it was hard to make out – it cast no shadow. He began let his intangibility slip.

The weight of the canon returned, and Danny found himself pushed down towards the ship. The translucent purple shape approached quickly – too quickly for Danny to stop. Wide-eyed, he held tighter to canon and reached for his intangibility.

Danny and the canon passed down through the ship harmlessly. With a grin, Danny zoomed right back up and out.

Grumpy appeared next to him, piggybacking Shorty. "You need to put it down!" called Shorty.

"I can't! It's too heavy!" Danny argued. Another yellow beam reached out and touched the ground far too close to them. Miss Martian and Superboy couldn't be doing well. Danny looked to Grumpy and Shorty.

"Now you've done it," Grumpy snarled at him. "The aliens know exactly where our ship is!"

Now, that really was not fair – Shorty had told him to come here. Danny huffed - and then noticed the beam rippling over the ice towards them.

"Grab onto me, I'll turn you int—!" Danny yelled. The two leapt for him as he started speaking, and he grabbed them, ready to turn them intangible. They were warm as they passed through his still-intangible body, warm in a way that made him shiver and frown. His words broke off. The yellow curtain approached, and his heart became lead in his mouth. Grumpy and Shorty thumped against the biosip below him.

A heartbeat away from the ship, beam vanished.

Danny sighed, a tiny whoop escaping him.

The ship that had fired it careered off course, falling into the lacke with a crash. Danny looked about for the other one, and found its wreck mostly hidden by lake ice.

Miss Martian descended and approached. Danny's smile closed and found himself blushing. "You can release it now," she said told Danny tiredly.

Danny shook his head quickly. He was holding the canon from underneath – he'd be crushed!

"Here," said Superboy, placing his arms under the canon in preparation to hold it. Danny muttered to him to prepare himself and went tangible. He slipped to the side as the canon fell. Superboy caught it before it could crush him against the bioship.

"Thanks," Danny said.

"The enemy ships have been destroyed," said another voice. The leader had arrived now. He looked at Danny with steady eyes that made Danny squirm and fidget. "I think it is us who must thank you," he said.

Danny found himself blushing. He slid down the side of the ship and came forward to meet Leader. Leader held out his hand for Danny to shake. Danny clutched it. The hand that closed around his seemed powerful, and aware. Warm.

Danny's whole body suddenly felt heavier.

"_Thank_ him?" Grumpy interrupted, and Leader's hand slipped away. "He almost got Rob and I k—" Grumpy broke off, staring at the ground. His face twisted, tears appearing in his eyes. "You want him on the team? ARTEMIS IS GONE AND YOU WANT HIM ON THE TEAM?" he howled.

Danny watched in puzzlement, and looked to Leader for the verdict. The portal was gone, and it would be difficult to find his way out of here alone. He had no idea how to look for a new portal, either.

"Right now we do not have the luxury of picking and choosing our allies, Kid Flash," the leader answered, and Danny relaxed. He grinned with relief.

"I am Aqualad, of the Justice League, and the leader of this team. My companions are Kid Flash—" Grumpy shot him a glare "—Robin—" Shorty nodded "Superboy and Miss Martian," he gestured to the two who were connecting the canon to the bioship.

They paused, expectantly. "I'm Danny Phantom," Danny introduced himself.

"Phantom. We would be grateful to have you by our side."

He was ushered into the bioship, and seated at a spare seat by Miss Martian before she took the controls. Kid Flash looked at his poisonously, and Robin wasn't looking at him at all. Not even Superboy looked at him. Miss Martian began their flight with tears in her eyes.

The bioship was warm, and Danny felt tears coming to his eyes like thawing icicles. Tiredness clutched at him, and despite the sudden agony that pulled at him _was Wulf gone? Where was he? Had Wulf betrayed him?_ he was pulled into sleep.


	5. Artemis-n't

I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of the typos in this thing. If anyone wants to help me get rid of them (**beta-work**!), drop me a line!

That would take longer, so I might start grouping scenes and posting several per update. That would make for better continuity but it might slow down production…

(I'msorrythechapternameisawfulisn'tit.)

x.x

Someone was saying Danny's name. Aqualad was standing above him. Danny sat up, cotton-mouthed and sleepy-eyed. He was on a couch in a large, bare room. A television stood against the opposite wall. The ground and the walls were pristine, as though they had been recently painted and installed. There was no sign of anything foodlike, his hungry belly pointed out.

"This is our base, it is safe here," said Aqualad. He had swapped his white clothing for a red shirt with black markings, similar to the marks – gills? – on his neck. A green arrow on his shirt caught Danny's attention. It seemed out of place against the red.

"Hi. I'm, er, hungry. You have food here right?" Danny asked.

"In the kitchen," Aqualad answered. "You can smell it from hallway," he gestured towards the door with a webbed hand. Danny stared at the hand, and tried not to.

Aqualad noticed. "Do you have anything else to ask?"

"Uerh…" Danny muttered, his eyes drifting up from the hands to rest on the arrow again. It looked like a sticker. "What's that?" he asked.

"The Team needed to know we would not forget our fallen friend," he answered. "It is a token to her."

Danny's heart felt a little bit leadened. "Oh," he answered. Eager to get away from Aqualad, he walked through the door and went looking for the kitchen.

Kid Flash was leaning against a counter and peering into a steaming pot. He had a bread slice in one hand, a bread slice in his mouth, and the other hand scratched at his chest. Danny stilled instantly, framed in the doorway. Kid Flash's fingers revealed an arrow as they whizzed back and forth. Danny began inching away.

Kid Flash shifted, and spotted Danny. Danny stopped, deer-in-the-headlights. He smiled awkwardly. Hopefully it looked friendly. Kid Flash scowled and he stepped away from the pot. "You hungry?" he taunted.

Danny dropped the smile. "That—_is_ why I came to the kitchen," he answered with a shrug.

"Good, I was just finishing here."

Kid Flash vanished, and the pot's steam rippled in his wake. For a moment, Danny waited for Kid Flash to attack him, but he had truly disappeared and he didn't seem to be coming back. Danny inspected the pot. Six eggs were jiggled by the boiling water in the pot. How much longer would they be cooking for?

"He'd better not be coming back for them," Danny muttered to himself as he set the kitchen timer to five minutes. With luck, that would be alright. As he stared down at the pot, he caught sight of the black material that covered his chest. It was bare of anything.

His mind went to Aqualad and Kid Flash – both with those arrows, both _part_ of something together. "Where did the arrows come from? I suppose they're for Artemis," he mumbled.

"They are. Meg—Miss Martian made them and Robin provided the adhesive," said Superboy.

Danny started and spun around. "Oh? Imagine that!" he scratched his neck and then stifled the action, forcing his arm down by his side. His eyes dropped to the arrow on Superboy's shirt. Longing caught hold of him. "Where is she?" he asked.

Superboy showed him the way to Miss Martian's room (Danny swore he'd paused to _listen_ to figure out where she was), and opened the door. Scraps of green littered the area around Miss Martian like leaves surrounding and Autumn tree. She smiled at them… but it seemed affected.

"Oh, Phantom! Superboy? Did you want something?"

"Phantom wanted to see you," Supeboy answered before leaving him.

Danny touched one of the green pieces of cloth, suddenly not sure what he wanted to say. It would be a… violation to ask for an arrow. He didn't know Artemis at all. He didn't even know why the arrows were associated with her.

"I—I'm sorry," Miss Martian broke the silence. Danny's brow creased, he was the one who was stepping out of line. He looked up. Miss Martain nodded earnestly and touched her hair.

"I don't—know what happened with your friend. The Wolf? I didn't." She squinted, and shook her head. "I didn't _mean_ to hurt him! I don't know how—it was levitation! I wasn't supposed to ki…"

She thought she'd killed Wulf. Wulf, who'd endured Walker's shock collar with dignity. It didn't make sense. Miss Martain _couldn't_ have killed Wulf! Danny let go of a shaky sigh and touched her shaking shoulder.

"Miss Martian? I don't think… I don't think Wulf died because of you."

"Really?" Miss Martain asked hopefully. "I hope you're right." She looked tiredly down at the green scraps of fabric. Silence sat between them, and Danny refused to break it.

"Would you like a sticker?"

A sticker? Sure enough, there was a little arrow on Miss Martian's chest. Danny stared it, his breath stuck in his throat. An arrow, like all the others?

"Not—_Hello Megan!_ You think I mean an arrow, right? That would be a bit silly, wouldn't it? How about a paw—for Wulf?" Miss Martian rambled. She smiled nervously.

Danny agreed, and she got to work. The silence gave Danny time to think. His parents had often theorised that a ghost was created by a soul dying with unfinished business, and would vanish upon fulfilling that business.

If that was what had happened to Wulf – if Wulf was Wolf – then Wulf probably _known _he'd disappear. He _knew_ he'd strand Danny. Had he done it on purpose, so that Danny would be forced to help his old friends?

"It's done!" Miss Martian said. Danny took the sticky paw as Miss Martiain explained how to attach it. It was simple, made entirely out of diamonds, but to looked nice: Miss Martian had cut it well. Yet, Danny found himself hating it.

He put it on his chest and rubbed it to make it stick. The paw moved under his fingers. It wasn't meant to do that. He rubbed harder, anger building. The paw came away on his fingers.

He closed them, scrunching his fingers.

"It's okay," he said before Miss Martian said anything. She looked uncertain. "Really."

"Miss Martian, Phantom to the kitchen," Aqualad's voice came over the intercom.

But, looking at the rest of the team comfortably standing in the kitchen, he realised it wasn't.

Robin stepped forward and began speaking as soon as they entered. "We've got a plan, but first we need to have a little sparing session. Phantom, we don't really know how you work, I mean, we know you float and glow and can walk through walls, but we need to know better. So we're going to have a fight. All of us, against you."

Danny's eyes widened in alarm. "Um – I'm still hungry!

The intercom spoke again.

"_Recognised: Martian Manhunter: 07;_"


	6. Manhunter Again

Robin's challenging half-smile vanished, and his attention dropped from Danny like a pebble falling through loose fingers. He turned to the door. The kitchen was quiet enough that all the silence of the arching rooms of the Hall of Justice could be lurking there. Aqualad's voice carried eerily:

"It is unlikely to be a trick."

Robin nodded grimy. "So far the aliens have showed nothing but brute force." Every line of his posture was read to spring into action. The breath that left Superboy's nose seemed to echo. His hands clenched, white-knuckled, and unclenched, but did not relax.

Danny's fingers tingled, ready to light up with ectoplasm.

The _clop_ of heavy footwear came towards them. The steps were sure of themselves: the walker knew where he was going – knew they were in the kitchen. The open door seemed to yawn.

"It's him! I can feel it, it's really him! Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martain's joyful shout rocked them.

A green man with red eyes and an unsmiling mouth appeared in the doorway. Fear gripped Danny, and green light fizzled around his fists. Miss Martian fled past him and tackled the man in a hug. She babbled, smiling. Even Kid Flash was not antagonistic. He was, for the first time Danny had seen him, smiling.

Danny's ectoblasts fizzled into a faint, green glow.

The team flocked around Martain Manhunter, surrounding him with wide-eyed looks and questions on their lips. Before they reached him he gripped his head with his hand and groaned.

"Uncle J'onn?" Miss Martian released him.

"I am sorry," Martain Manhunter rumbled, his eyes lowered. "My mind is… clouded. I am certain that I had something important to tell you, but it has vanished."

"Maybe you're supposed to tell us our mentors are safe?" Kid Flash asked eagerly.

"No. That was not it." Danny felt sick as the Martian spoke. Manhunter spotted him, his red eyes as bright as Plasmius'. They were worse, though. Plasmius' eyes did not look like they could see through him, and see not the fleshy structure of the brain but his panicking thoughts. Danny's mind felt it was being laid bare before him.

"Who are you?" asked Manhunter.

Danny drew himself up. "Phantom, and I want to know who _you_ are. You clearly –" his eyes flickered to Aqualad, who had hung back and was watching everything with wary eyes. Aqualad inclined his head—he was giving Danny his approval. Danny searched for words to describe his discomfort. "…Aren't expected."

The Martian turned his head and frowned, as if a distant sound had pulled him away. As if Danny wasn't important. Danny huffed. "Aren't you going to answer me?"

The Martian gripped his head again, and Miss Martain twittered worriedly at his side. They waited for the verdict. Manhunter's hand moved slowly down to his side. His eyes were still unfocused, but now there was dangerous air to him.

"I remember why I am here now," he said.

He turned to Miss Martian with a new look in his eye. Danny saw the red, obsessive eyes of ghosts, and his hand shot forward. His ectoblast rocked towards the Martian as his hand shot out towards Miss Martian. The motion was aborted. The Martian ducked, and fluorescent green smacked against the far wall. Danny bobbed in the air, shocked, would it have been a killing blow? The others rounded on him.

"He was going to hurt her!" He protested. Aqualad stepped forward, he was angry. Had they not seen that Manhunter was going to kill Miss Martian? Danny floundered backwards.

"It is alright, Aqualad," Martain Manhunter said.

"No," answered Aqualad. "I advocated his presence. He is my responsibility."

"Allow me to explain myself," the Martian insisted. He turned to Danny, kindly. Danny was not convinced by his act. He kept his fists alight.

"I am Martian Manhunter, and I am here to return all of you to the real world. This place is not reality. It is a dream-world created as a training exercise."

Dream world? Training exercise? Were they like Technus, who he and Tucker had trapped in a glitched level of a computer game?

"You'll…" Danny murmured. "You'll get me home?" he asked, the light around his hands finally falling away. Martian Manhunter said he would.

Robin looked to Martian Manhunter quickly, shocked, but then his eyes widened in realisation. Danny scowled. The unease, which had been gone for a moment, returned. What did he know that Danny didn't?

"Now I must continue. There is something I must do to end the dreamworld, and awaken us all."

This time Danny couldn't stop it. Martian Manhunter's fist plowed through Miss Martian's chest as if she were thin Styrofoam. Her eyes widened in shock and blood pooled around his fist.

She choked, eyes wide, and fell to the ground.

"DAMMIT!" Superboy launched himself Manhunter, and the alien released Miss Martian as he ducked away. Kid Flash stared at her in horror. Horror Danny knew was mirrored on his own face.

"That was your plan?!" Robin's voice was strangled. "Kill her?"

"She's dead." Aqualad was crouched by corpse, and he rose slowly. Martian Manhunter had disabled Superboy by making him float.

"Answers, now!" their leader declared, and Manhunter turned his blank face towards them.


	7. Illusionary Child

'Phase in' and 'Phase out' are my new terms for Danny's intangibility, because 'intangibility' is clumsy. (look everyone, magic trick, I'm back from the dead!)

x.x

No-one was moving, and that didn't make sense. Superboy was doing his best, but he was stuck mid-air, and he wasn't able to do more than flail. Maybe that's why – maybe they were afraid of Manhunter's power – but these were the same people who hadn't baulked at taking down two jet ships, so that didn't sit right.

Miss Martian's corpse was at Aqualad's feet, and no-one had their fists out.

"She is no more dead than we are," Martian Manhunter spoke with slow words, "but if we do not awaken quickly, then we shall all perish."

"You said we're in a dream world," Robin said, and Kid Flash pinched himself and muffled a cry of pain, just to see if he'd wake up. "I'm going to guess this—"

"An unwinnable training scenario!" Kid Flash said in shock. "This place is designed to kill us!"

The earthbound team members shifted in horror.

"So how do we get out?" Danny demanded. He was twitchy with the need to escape, and Martian Manhunter himself needed to be taken down, he was sure.

Martain Manhunter answered, but he didn't look at Danny. He turned to Aqualad. "The dreamworld is held together by an anchor – Miss Martian became that anchor when she wrest control of the dreamworld from me. In doing so, she made you all believe that the training exercise was real – such was her conviction that she has convinced the dreamworld itself to that it is real. I should have shocked her out of the dreamworld, but by then the dreamworld had already become its own anchor."

Aqualad uncrossed his arms, and there was defeat in his voice. "You mean to say that Danny is a personification of the dreamworld – that _he_ is the new anchor."

"What?" Danny squawked. He looked from Aqualad to Kid Flash to Robin to Martian Manhunter. There was no doubt in any of their faces—they all honestly thought he was the anchor. Above them, Superboy's growls had stopped. He knew Danny was in danger, but there was nothing he could do.

"You guys don't honestly believe this, right?" he asked, wafting backwards. "I'm real – I'm not the anchor!"

"By definition, a self-sustaining anchor believes itself to be real," Manhunter commented without looking his way. He continued in an assuring tone: "Its creation is not a disaster: a dreamworld will cease upon a self-sustaining anchor's destruction."

He was saying that Danny's family wasn't real. Sister Jazz's blue headbands. Dad's terrifying, safety-orange HAZMATs. The creepy glowing hotdogs that would come grin at him from the microwave. Tuck's meat-eating. Sam's vegetarianism. Mom's hugs. Dad's fishing trips. Lake Eerie, the ghost portal—

"I'm _real_," Danny croaked, and wet his lips. "I swear I'm real!"

They weren't listening.

"I'm sorry," Aqualad said, and his hands moved towards his back – the two whips were going to appear in his hands in any moment. Danny darted away – and pain ripped into his thigh. He looked down, half expecting it be missing. Green ectoplasm was dripping from around a disk the size of his palm, embedded in his leg.

A whine of pain was beating at his chest, but he couldn't find the breath to let it out, and there were spots in is eyes. Someone grabbed his arms and pushed him towards a wall – the disk would get trapped against the wall, it'd dig in deeper and it would _hurt_. Danny shifted to intangibility before impact, and he passed through into the walls of the mountain.

His blue glow lit Kid Flash's face: he'd been held before he went intangible. Danny struggled against the grip on his arms. If they went tangible now, they'd be crushed by the rock. He stopped struggling. Their momentum sent them through the dark walls of the mountain and into the sunlight and the air.

There was a roar of approaching ships, and Danny strained to look behind them. A flock of black shapes was swooping in over the water.

"I can't kill you," Kid Flash choked out.

The words made him look back. Kid Flash's face was twisted with remorse. _Couldn't_ or _Wouldn't_? His hands weren't strained where they held onto Danny by virtue of Danny's intangibility. The sea was murky blue and white-crested far beneath them, and if Kid tried anything he would fall to his death.

Kid Flash let go. Gravity took hold of him and he fell towards the sea. He'd die on impact from this height. Danny dived after him, losing his own intangibility to grab hold of Kid Flash's body.

A canon boomed behind them. Triumph lit Kid Flash's eyes.

He'd set them both up to die, Danny realised, and was consumed before he could phase out.


End file.
